Belichick, UNC to miss bowl season: How coaching legend's first college campaign resulted in disaster

The Bill Belichick experiment is not going well thus far. On Saturday, 4-6 UNC faced the 5-5 Duke Blue Devils at home in a must-win game to preserve a seventh straight season of bowl eligibility.

With just two games remaining—against Duke and in-state rival NC State next week—UNC needed to win out to maintain the streak, which would have tied the longest in school history.

Instead, Duke won 32-25, securing bowl eligibility of their own. Duke’s kicker, Todd Pellino, sealed Belichick’s fate with a fake field goal that advanced the ball to UNC’s 1-yard line with 2:28 left to play.

THERE GOES TODD PELINO!!!!! pic.twitter.com/QU6b6TbOeE

The Tar Heels dropped to 4-7, the worst record for UNC since 2018.

When was the last time North Carolina missed a bowl game?

It's been quite awhile since UNC missed a bowl game. The last time was in 2018 when UNC finished 2-9, losing seven of their last eight games. Unsurprisingly, the school made a coaching change at the end of that season. 

Who was the last coach to miss a bowl game at North Carolina?

The Tar Heels' head coach in 2018 was Larry Fedora, who was fired at the end of the season Fedora finished 45-43 as UNC's head coach, with his best season coming during UNC's 11-3 finish in 2015. In fact, Fedora led the Tar Heels to four straight bowl games from 2016-2013, including a trip to the ACC title game in 2015. 

Will North Carolina fire Bill Belichick?

Belichick signed a five-year, $50 million contract with North Carolina last year. However, only $10 million of his salary is guaranteed for the first three years.

UNC’s first season under Belichick clearly didn’t go as expected, but the school appears committed to him—for now.

Earlier this season, there were reports that Belichick was considering an exit strategy from UNC. On Oct. 8, 247Sports' Andrew Jones reported that "potential exit strategy discussions" took place regarding Belichick's future at North Carolina, describing them as "preliminary conversations."

On Oct. 13, Belichick addressed the media for the first time since the reports about a potential fallout began. The UNC head coach called the rumors "categorically false," shutting down any potential breakout this season with the Tar Heels. 

Belichick and UNC AD Bubba Cunningham even released statements amid the rumors. 

Statements from Carolina Athletics. pic.twitter.com/g8zn6WoxTW

UNC and Belichick’s struggles continued after the rumors. The Tar Heels dropped four straight games—to UCF, Clemson, Cal, and Virginia—falling to 2-5 on Oct. 25. Although UNC won two straight games against Syracuse and Stanford earlier this month, they lost 28-12 at Wake Forest.

Rumors about Belichick leaving for an NFL job resurfaced when the New York Giants fired Brian Daboll on Nov. 10. Belichick was an assistant with the Giants from 1979 to 1990 and interviewed for multiple NFL openings after he was fired from New England in January 2024. Once again, Belichick released a statement reaffirming his commitment to UNC:

Bill Belichick buyout

If UNC were to fire Belichick, the school would owe him $20,833,333, per USA Today. But that amount changes significantly if Belichick is to leave for another job. When Belichick was hired last year, his contract stated that he would owe the school $10 million if he were to leave for another job. 

North Carolina season results

As you can see, UNC's season has gone quite poorly. It started with a 48-14 blowout at home vs. TCU, which was the most points scored on a Belichick-coached team in any of his 333 NFL games.